Hashemite Kingdom of Palestine solution refuses to implode
The Saudi-based Hashemite Kingdom of Palestine solution (HKOPS) to end 100 years of conflict between Arabs and Jews refuses to implode – despite the best efforts of the United Nations and world media to ignore HKOPS existence since its publication on 8 June 2022.
HKOPS author – Ali Shihabi – an advisor to Saudi Crown Prince and Prime Minister Mohammed Bin Salman (MBS) – confirmed the following features of his plan calling for the merger of Jordan, Gaza and part of Judea and Samaria (West Bank) into one new territorial entity named The Hashemite Kingdom of Palestine – during an interview with me on 14 August 2022:
- It would supersede two previous Saudi peace proposals in 1981 and 2002 calling for Israel to withdraw completely from the West Bank
- The two-state solution – the creation of a separate Palestinian Arab State between Jordan and Israel – promoted unsuccessfully by the United Nations for the last 29 years – is consigned to the diplomatic graveyard
- Amman – not Jerusalem – will be the capital of The Hashemite Kingdom of Palestine
- The right of return to Israel is abandoned.
- Palestinians in the West Bank, Gaza and stateless refugees get full citizenship in the merged Hashemite Kingdom of Palestine with all the elements of sovereignty applicable to those Territories that belonging to a fully recognized state in the UN entail.
Shihabi’s solution has reared its head yet again to discredit the United Nations and world media’s inexplicable conduct:
“Israel and Saudi Arabia have recently reached a breakthrough in normalization talks that could also facilitate a deal for the release of hostages held by Hamas and an end to the war in Gaza, Haaretz has learned.
Sources familiar with the negotiations said that instead of explicit Israeli recognition of a Palestinian state, as Saudi Arabia had previously demanded, the sides agreed that Israel would provide the kingdom with a vague commitment to a “path towards Palestinian statehood.” This would allow Saudi Arabia to fulfill its pledge not to abandon the Palestinians.
In recent weeks, Israel and Saudi Arabia have held talks to normalize relations and end the war in Gaza, with the discussions accelerating after the cease-fire agreement with Lebanon.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is conducting the negotiations via Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer, while the government and the security cabinet have been kept in the dark.
The United States is serving as both mediator and guarantor of the talks, with Israel coordinating with both President Joe Biden’s administration and President-elect Donald Trump. The incoming Trump administration is expected to deliver benefits such as a U.S.-Saudi defense pact and the sale of American weapons systems to the kingdom.
Saudi Arabia has long reiterated its demand that Israel recognize a Palestinian state, and in September its foreign minister, Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud, announced the formation of a coalition of Arab states and international organizations to promote such recognition.
However, sources close to Netanyahu believe that Saudi Arabia’s crown prince and de facto leader, Mohammed bin Salman, has no personal interest in formal recognition of a Palestinian state and only requires progress on the issue to secure domestic political and religious support for the deal.
Netanyahu believes his political base will accept the vague wording of a “path towards Palestinian statehood,” which entails no concrete commitments.”
MBS reportedly told US Secretary of State Antony Blinken in September:
“Do I care personally about the Palestinian issue? I don’t, but my people do, so I need to make sure this is meaningful.”
Direct negotiations between Israel and Jordan to implement HKOPS and features of Trump’s own 2020 Deal of the Century – mediated by MBS – could soon possibly become “the path towards Palestinian statehood”.
Please join my Facebook Page: “Hashemite Kingdom of Palestine supporters”
Author’s note: The cartoon — commissioned exclusively by the author — is by Yaakov Kirschen aka “Dry Bones”- one of Israel’s foremost political and social commentators — whose cartoons have graced the columns of Israeli and international media publications for decades
